Verrucae Treatment

Verrucae are one of the most common foot problems among children and adults.
In all cases, it is necessary to attend for an initial consultation where the severity of the verrucae are assessed to determine the most appropriate treatment.

Treating Verruca’s

Why am I having this treatment?
You have presented a lesion in clinic which is believed to be a verruca.

What does a verruca mean?
Verruca’s are virus-linked and whilst can sometimes go without treatment, it can take up to two years for the virus to leave your system before your verruca begins to disappear. Other times, it won’t go until you treat it.

How long will it take?
The length of time it takes for a wart to disappear will vary from person to person. They tend to last longer in older children and adults.
In adults and people with a weakened immune system, verruca’s are less likely to clear up on their own or respond well to treatment. Leaving the verruca to go away by itself is one option. However, most people seek treatment if a verruca is painful, in an awkward position, or is causing you distress or embarrassment.

Treatment options
There are a number of treatments available for verruca’s. However, no single treatment is 100% effective, and the verruca may return.
The aim of treatment is to remove the verruca without it returning and without leaving any scarring.
Treatments include:
- salicylic acid
- cryotherapy
- duct tape
- chemical treatments

Surgery to treat verrucas is not usually recommended because verrucas often return and further treatment is required, due to it being virus-linked.
Some treatments may cause side effects such as mild pain, blistering and skin irritation around the verruca.

The treatment we use here is salicylic acid.

Salicylic acid

What is salicylic acid?

Many verruca treatments – including creams, gels, paints and medicated plasters from over the counter from pharmacies contain this ingredient.
It has been shown that salicylic acid is as effective as cryotherapy for treating verruca’s.
There is limited evidence available to show which type of salicylic acid treatment (cream, gel, paint or plasters) is most effective.

What will the chiropodist do to my verruca?

Salicylic acid and other verruca treatments also destroy healthy skin, so your chiropodist will protect your skin before applying the treatment.
Before applying the treatment to your verruca, the chiropodist will file it down a little.
You may need to return for treatment every day for a week or maybe longer. You should tell your chiropodist and stop the treatment if your skin becomes sore.

Signs and Symptoms

Common features of verrucae include:

· Loss of normal skin pattern (the lines which you can see in finger prints)

· Presence of many minute dark spots, which are the tips of small blood vessels

· Overlying thickened skin (callus)

· tend to be flat and hard with a rough surface and well-defined borders

How to differentiate between a wart and a corn:

When you squeeze a wart, there is pain. Squeezing a corn does not cause pain.
When you press a wart there is no pain. If you press a callus, there is often pain as bone is underneath the area.
When a verrucae is removed, there is pinpoint bleeding due to the small vessels underneath, the black dots commonly seen. Removing a corn does not cause bleeding unless deeper layers of healthy skin are affected.

Verrucae are highly contagious and affect people who participate on activities such as swimming, gymnastics or martial arts.

You will then be advised as to whether a course of treatments would help in reducing the verrucae. If this is the case, most patients attend on a weekly basis to ensure effective results from the treatment.

We offer a number of treatments to remove verrucae but unfortunately we cannot guarantee treatment outcome.
At present there is no treatment that is 100% effective.